Pittsburgh Residents, Uber is Rolling Out Self-Driving Cars

Don’t get me wrong, Pittsburgh is a fine city, but did anyone think it would be the first area you can take a self-driving Uber from place to place? Well, starting this week, Uber is rolling out self-driving vehicles for public usage, providing the same experience as an UberX.

According to Uber, these vehicles will only be usable by Uber’s most loyal riders, and I have no idea what that actually means. While I don’t think Uber knows if you have ever used a Lyft before, anything’s possible. My guess is, if you find yourself taking Uber quite frequently, and you’re in the vicinity of one, you may see it pop up inside of your Uber app.

The self-driving Uber technology is still in early stages, so not everything is automated. For this pilot program, a human will also be inside of the vehicle as it arrives at your pick-up. This person is there just in case human intervention is needed. Uber states that the self-driving software can’t handle poor weather and other conditions at this time.

If you rock Uber and live in Pittsburgh, watch the video below, then definitely try to catch a ride in one of these. You would certainly get a few likes on your Instagram for snapping a picture while inside.

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indianafanatic

If this hasn’t been said yet by human drivers yet, it will be soon.

Mike

Just here to hate on Droid Life for getting my hopes up about something interesting coming to Pittsburgh, not that this isn’t cool but we have plenty of public transit that I don’t see this being very useful other than around 2 A.M. on Fridays at the South Side.

MGardnerDA1235

Pittsburgh is definitely because of CMU. Some students helped work on the project.

As for the meaning that this is only available to ‘loyal’ riders, I bet it just means ‘we aren’t sending this to first time users who will be freaked out.’

vonbane

I live in Pittsburgh, according to the Engadget article they are only operating in a small area downtown, and have already had very minor issues with double parked delivery trucks and “the Pittsburgh left” at intersections with traffic lights. Can’t wait to see how they handle the winters here.

gunslinger

FYI, an “Pittsburgh Left” is when a car in the opposing lane (that does not have a dedicated turning light) makes an immediate left hand turn (crossing in front of you) when the light changes to green. Although this usually an “illegal” turn, as they do not have the right-of-way. However it is mostly accepted due to the traffic patterns of the city, to allow left turnnig traffic the change to incrementally advance during each traffic light cycle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_left

jak_341

Yep. This just happened to me tonight. I used to lose my cool, but now I just roll with it.

jak_341

I saw one coming down Penn from Lawrenceville towards the Strip during rush hour. I think the computer flipped a couple of cars off…

Nick

i’ve been sitting in traffic with 1 or 2 a day coming down greentree hill to fort pitt tunnel every morning for the last few months. they make me jealous that i gotta start and stop for 30-40 minutes while they get to just sit and let the car handle it.

Snowbo13

50% off Uber rides with android pay at least with my phone and promotions

Mark555055

i like the giant multi lens projector on the roof.

Evorgleb

I live in Pittsburgh. I have actually seen these Uber cars out on the road. It was weird. There was no driver but someone was in fact seating in the passenger seat. I am assuming that was an Uber employee. Uber recently opened up shop here in Pittsburgh. And they turned what was a partnership with CMU into a pillage of talent.

ddevito

I love me some Primanti Bros and order me a Pitts-burger. If you’re in the Pitt area take an Uber there, like now 🙂

bryoneill11

Oh my god this will create an outrage. Taxi drivers were right after all. Uber convinced cities that this would create a lot of jobs cause all the drivers and now of a sudden this.

Dont take it wrong, Im all for this. But I see new protest will rise again in the future

Marc Ross

Pittsburgh isn’t known for its taxis, so that won’t be a huge problem here. Other places, it will, I’m sure.

MJ

Let others be the beta tester for this…

Sporttster

Yep. Let them risk their lives with this craziness. I’m interested in knowing what happens when it gets a flat tire or some other mechanical misfortune happens to it, brakes fail or whatever. Imagine going down a highway at 60 in congested traffic in one of these. It can get hairy with a person driving let alone a friggin robot.

Cowboydroid

Robot drivers are safer than people. No matter how self-aware you believe a human to be in a challenging situation, a robot has the advantage of more eyes on the road at every angle at once and more computing power to predict what might happen next and, most importantly, a MUCH better response time in the event something does happen.

It’s a great test area (I live 90 mins away and go there twice a month) due to all the traffic, one way streets, narrow streets with parking on both sides, and insane amount of bridges. Because of the one ways and bridges, this phrase is literally sums up driving in downtown Pittsburgh: “You can’t get there from here, you gotta go around.”

gunslinger

There was a WDVE skit where the guy bought his dad a GPS, and dad complained it didn’t work. Kid had to download the ‘Yinzer Voice Pack’ to work in Pittsburgh. Went from ‘Take the left on ramp to Interstate 376 Westbound’ to “Get on da parkway like ur going to Monroeville. Get off where the old Nortivew Height Church Parking Lot use to be, and make a left and right turn at the same time.” (seriously, THIS IS A REAL THING). so if a self driving car can make it in the Burgh, I’ll trust them everywhere.

Jérôme Besnard

Uber, Echo, I guess there is not much going on with Android (besides the Note 7 saga that makes highlights in the media). Can’t wait for October 4th.

roebling

Who’s tech are they using?

moew

Probably some kid FPV’ing the thing, especially with that many cameras on it 🙂

soccerburn55

I would guess Pittsburgh because Carnegie Mellon is there and they are a great technology and engineering school and they have been working in self driving cars since before Google.